Sydney Declares Pop-up Globe the Best Ever

Sydney Declares Pop-up Globe the Best Ever

Extensive critical acclaim rolls in for exported Kiwi theatre

SYDNEY SEASON EXTENDED BY POPULAR DEMAND

New Zealand’s most successful theatrical export, Pop-up Globe has taken Sydney by storm, with influential critic John Shand from The Age declaring its production of Macbeth as the best they’ve ever seen.

Starring two of New Zealand’s finest actors, Stephen Lovatt and Amanda Billing, the adulations don’t stop at this glowing review with Lovatt described as “absolute theatrical dynamite” by Australian Stage and the Tom Mallaburn-directed tragedy as “an altogether new feast for the senses in its boldly theatrical use of this wonderful performance space”.

The Sydney media has heaped praise on Pop-up Globe’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with every indication this production will be a blockbuster hit. Containing 20% te reo Maori, spoken by the mischievous fairies in the woods, Australian Stage said this production is “a remarkable achievement in out-of-the-box theatre making” with The Sydney Morning Herald saying its “as rollicking and immersive a production of Shakespeare’s most popular comedy has has ever romped across a modern stage.”

Pop-up Globe’s presentation of bonkers farce The Comedy of Errors also won its fair share of praise. Arts Review describes it as “the chance to jump in a time machine and experience something magical”, and Broadway World Sydney says it is “highly entertaining”.

"Absolute theatrical dynamite" Australian Stage

Creator and artistic director Dr Miles Gregory is thrilled with Sydney’s reception of Pop-up Globe, which has popped up at the heart of the city’s Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park.

“The reviews are world-class,” says Dr Gregory. “As an artist, I couldn’t ask for greater recognition for the work we’ve created. I am honoured that Sydney has embraced us with such enthusiasm.

“I am very proud of our whole company as ambassadors for New Zealand arts and culture.”

Since its inception in Auckland less than three years ago, over 500,000 people have seen one of the Bard’s masterpieces in Auckland, at the company’s first international season in Melbourne, and now in Sydney.

The Sydney season has been extended until December 2.

Pop-up Globe aims to rediscover and bring back to life the extraordinary experience of Shakespeare’s own audiences through his own work performed in the space and style his own company did.

Pop-up Globe is a three-storey, 16-sided, 700-person capacity theatre. It unites cutting-edge scaffold technology with a 400-year-old design to transport audiences back in time. No matter where they sit or stand in the theatre, audience members are never more than 15 metres from the heart of the action on stage. Sometimes they’ll even find themselves in the play.

Pop-up Globe features all the spectacular theatrical trickery of the Jacobean era, including cannons, flaming arrows, hundreds of litres of fake blood, and hundreds of beautiful bespoke period costume pieces specially constructed by the Pop-up Globe in-house wardrobe department.

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